Why are sound makers not making the headlines?

By Prince Osuagwu

With the way things are going, it seems that the future would be ruled by emotions. That is why at the movies, the image gets all the glamour. When critics talk about an Oscar-worthy film, they usually refer to the powerful acting, sweeping cinematography and dazzling visual effects but leave out one of the most important - the sound tech.
Imagine a film when all of a sudden everything goes mute. Perhaps all the costly actors and actresses will lose colour because dialogue is dead and apparently all other technological ingredients in the film, worthless.
Whatever rating the sound technology is given in a movie it does not remove its position as an extremely important part of the filmmaking process. Sound helps to establish mood, build suspense and create a reality touch. In animated films, sound is often the difference between a cute cartoon and a convincing digital reality.

What the sound Editor does

The sound editor is responsible for everything heard in a movie. He is most often called the sound designer because he is essentially creating a systematic balance of audio from hundreds of different sources for a desired effect.
Sound editing sometimes plays a corrective role in a less pristine video quality, pixilated video images  and scrappy camera work.
However, some of these technocrats are hardly mentioned, least celebrated and in most cases poorly remunerated. The actors and actresses, video techs and even video editors get all the hype. Yet the sound Engineer gazes right into the mind of the Directors to ensure that the filmmaker’s vision is reflected in the movie's sound.

Computers and sound Editing

Today, most sound editors use digital audio workstations for sound editing and almost all sound editors use computerized editing systems known as digital audio workstations. Digital audio workstations are multi-track systems that greatly simplify and enhance the sound editing process for all types of professional audio production like film audio, studio recording, DJs, and all.
The beauty of it all is that outside the more professional systems, like DigiDesign’s Pro Tools, which require a special sound card and are typically used in conjunction with large digital mixing boards and are compatible with hundreds of effects and virtual instrument plug-ins, the most basic systems are simply software applications that can be loaded onto a standard personal computer.
One of the big advantages of digital audio workstations is that they allow sound editors to work with graphical representations of sound. With magnetic tape, everything was done by ear. Now editors can look at the sound waves on the screen. They can see extraneous background noise and remove it with a click of the mouse. Some DAWs can automatically clean up audio, removing clicks, hisses and low-level background noise that would have ruined a take in the old days.
With graphical interfaces, sound effects designers can study the waveform of a sound and easily bend and distort it to create something completely new. A lion’s roar can be stretched and pitched down to become the bellow of a tremendous sea monster.